June 6 Time Trial and photo

We our most recent Time Trial at Lowes Motor Speedway last night. It is 10 miles on the 1.5 mile track or 7 laps. I think we had 320+ to actually ride with over 400 to sign up.

I've finished 6th in my age group the past 2 events. Last night was my slowest time of the year with a time of 23 min 38 secs for an average speed of 25.4 mph. That wasn't too bad considering the tough century on Saturday plus there was also a little more wind to deal with last night. I had hoped for a faster time but I've got to remember it is still almost a minute faster than any time I've had before this year.

My top speed was 27-28 mph compared to 31 the previous two times this year--it shows you the effect the wind had on the backstretch.

We've talked a little bit about heart rates so here's my data. My max heart rate was 183 with the average being 174 for the 23+ mins. It took me 30 secs to get it from 85 bpm (standing start) to 140. I was in the 140-170 range for the next minute and above 170 for the remainder of the ride.

Unfortunately we had a nasty crash at last night's event. One of my buddies who is one of our most experienced and faster riders ran into the back of a pretty slow rider and took both of them down. They were both scraped up pretty badly. The faster rider's expensive Time Trial helmet did it's job but was destroyed. He still came away with a bad bruise on his head.

Although I'm not as fast as some of the riders I almost did the same thing. I passed someone and swung back in around them only to find myself quickly closing in on another rider. If I had not immediately moved back out I would have run over the rider. It's important to keep your head up although the temptation is to lower your head look down as you're working your guts out!!

We work hard at track safety and require all passing to be on one side. Plus we've tried to stagger the faster riders together to avoid closing speed issues but it's just about impossible to eliminate all hazards.

Anyway, here's a link to a picture from the previous event that will show me on my Cervelo and the riding position. I think I can take the bars down a little lower and possible gain a little bit more of an aero positon but I'm not too far off.

I'm not sure if this link will work (my photoshop is not cooperating) but here is the pic:

Thanks for the post and link the the picutres. There's some top end rides there! That' still a pretty amazing time. I'd venture a guess that 75 to 85 percent of all riders wouldn't be able to do that. Despite the crashes, it sounds like it was a successful event.

I would say closer to the 95%ile even for his venerable age. Averaging 25mph for 10mi is an elite amateur performance level. Best I ever did on a 40k/25mi TT was 35yrs ago at 64-65min or 23mph +. Doubt I could break 90min now. From another perspective, pro TT top out at 34mph average for 25-35mi TT, a level Lance A typically reached. Pro team TT can only add another mph at 35mph but they go 40-60miles.
Steve

jppe,
Dude, you are really my cycling idol and more.
Great times. Great equipment. You understand training and racing performance.
You work your socks off. And you give back to the sport, organizing an incredible TT series on a race track.
What else, pray tell???
Keep up the posts.
Cheers.

Oh ya, You look good doing it!

"and chase the frothy bubbles, while the world is full of troubles..."
W.B. Yeats

I've finished 6th in my age group the past 2 events. Last night was my slowest time of the year with a time of 23 min 38 secs for an average speed of 25.4 mph.
We've talked a little bit about heart rates so here's my data. My max heart rate was 183 with the average being 174 for the 23+ mins. It took me 30 secs to get it from 85 bpm (standing start) to 140. I was in the 140-170 range for the next minute and above 170 for the remainder of the ride.

My mother lives exactly 10klms away and I often ride over to say g'day if I don't feel like doing a long ride. Sometimes I just get on and go flat out for the heck of it. best time is 21 mintues and I'm desperate to get it under 20

"My mother lives exactly 10klms away and I often ride over to say g'day if I don't feel like doing a long ride. Sometimes I just get on and go flat out for the heck of it. best time is 21 mintues and I'm desperate to get it under 20"

JPPE-My goal going into this year was to break 24 mins in 10 miles. Since I've done that 3 times already this year, I've now reset the target to get into the 22.00-22.59 min zone. The issue is I'm doing all these centuries and I would really need to concentrate on doing more speed work/intervals. That might be something I change my riding patterns for and shoot for it in Sept or Oct.

JPPE-I agree that my heart rate is higher than "average". Interestingly my brother is 12 yrs younger than I am and rides more than I do. Our heart rates track almost identically except for slight differences due to the age gap. The highest I've seen my HR is 194 so I'm calling that my max. We compare our HR's to our riding buddies and we're a good 5-10% higher than most.